Native American Legislation/Policies:


  • Indian Removal Act - relocated Indian tribes west of the Mississippi to clear lands for white settlement
  • A new legislation was passed recently, modernizes and improves health care for American Indians and Alaska Natives, was included in the health insurance reform legislation that passed the House on March 21. President Obama signed the legislation into law on March 23
    • The Seminole War (1835- 1840) joined the forces of Indians and runaway black slaves to rebel against the whites Removal Act
    • Dowes Act (Feb 8, 1887)-converted all Indian territory into individual land ownership. The purpose was to influence Indians with white cultures. This act increased landholding of Indians, but also reduced a lot of land b
    • Durke Act(1906)-designed to correct certain changes in Dowes act about land in Indian Reservation.
    • A new legislation was passed recently, modernizes and improves health care for American Indians and Alaska Natives, was included in the health insurance reform legislation that passed the House on March 21. President Obama signed the legislation into law on March 23.
    • H.R.680 : To direct the Secretary of Interior to convey certain land held in trust for the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah to the City of Richfield, Utah, and for other purposes
    • Indian Trust Reform Act of 2005 -A bill to provide Indian trust, and management reform and resolution of historical accounts
    • Native American Housing Enhancement Act of 2005 - Amends the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996 to prohibit the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from restricting access to the housing grant amount for any Indian tribe
    • Indian Appropriations Act of 1871 -In 1871 Congress added a rider to the Indian Appropriations Act ending U.S. recognition of additional Native American tribes or independent nations, and prohibiting additional treaties
    • Indian Intercourse Acts was made to regulate commerce between Native Americans and non-Indians & restricting travel by non-Indians onto Indian land
    • Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, also known as the Snyder Act, was proposed by Representative Homer P. Snyder (R) of New York and granted full U.S. citizenship to America's indigenous peoples, called "Indians" in this Act

Navigation Acts - a series of laws which restricted the use of foreign shipping for trade between England (after 1707 Great Britain) and its colonies, which started in 1651

Stamp Act - an act passed by the British Parliament in (1756) that raised revenue from the American Colonies by a duty in the form of a stamp required on all newspapers and legal or commercial documents; opposition by the Colonies resulted in the repeal of the act in 1766

Townshend Acts - series of acts passed beginning in 1767 by the Parliament of Great Britain relating to the British colonies in North America. named after: Charles Townshend

Tea Act - (1773) an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain to expand the British East India Company's monopoly on the tea trade to all British Colonies, selling excess tea at a reduced price; result = Boston tea Party

Northwest Ordinance (1787) - primary effect of the ordinance was the creation of the northwest Territory as the 1st organized territory of the U.S. out of the region south of the Great Lakes, north + west of the Ohio River, and east of the MI River

Revolution of the American Colonies against Great Britain; 1775-1783

3/5ths Compromise - a compromise between Souther + Norther states reached during the Philadelphia Convention of (1787) in which 3/5ths of the population of slaves would be counted to determine both the distribution of taxes and the apportionment of the members of the U.S. House of Representatives

First Bank of the U.S. (1791) - bank charted by the U.S. congress; 20-year expiration date; proposed by Alexander Hamilton

Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 - a way to ensure that slaveowners would be able to recover their slaves in any US state, as well as allow States to apprehend escaped fugitives from the law, which were not the same

XYZ Affair (1798-1800) - a diplomatic episode that soured relations between France and the United States and led to an undeclared naval war called the Quasi War; during the presidency of John Adams

Alien + Sedition Acts (1798) - designed to protect the United States from enemy aliens, and to prevent seditious attacks from weakening the government

Non-intercourse Act - six statues passed by the U.S. Congress in 1790, 1793, 1796, 1799, 1802, and 1834; regulates commerce between Native Americans and non-Indians.

Judiciary Act of 1801 - reduced the number of seats on the Supreme Court, effective upon the next vacancy in the Court. No such vacancy occurred during the brief period the Act was in effect, so the size of the Court remained unchanged.

Embargo Act of 1807 - laws restricting American ships from engaging in foreign trade between the years of 1807 and 1812. They led to the War of 1812 between the U.S. and Britain.

Second Bank of the U.S. - chartered in 1816; chartered to expire in 20 years; went bankrupt in 1841

Missouri Compromise (1820) - prohibited slavery in the former Louisiana Territory north of the parallel 36'30 north except within the boundaries of the proposed state of Missouri. Ultimately failed.

Compromise of 1850 - package of five bills, which defused a four-year confrontation between the slave states of the South and the free states of the North regarding the status of territories acquired during the Mexican-American War (1846–1848); drafted by Whig henry Clay

Kansas-Nebraska (1854) - pre-Civil War era legislation that created the territories of Kansas + Nebraska, opened new lands, repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820 + allowed settlers in those territories to determine if they would allow slavery within their boundaries (popular sovereignty) written by Stephen Douglas

Emancipation Proclamation (1863) - order issued during the Civil War by President Lincoln ending slavery in the Confederate states
The world's 1st Transcontinental Railroad was built between 1863-1869 to join the eastern and western halves of the U. S.

Civil Rights Act (1866) - a federal law in the U.S.that was mainly intended to protect the civil rights of African-Americans, in the wake of the American Civil War

Sherman Antitrust Act (1890) - requires the U.S. fed'l gov't to investigate and pursue trusts, companies, and organizations suspected of violating the Act; It was the 1st Fed'l statute to limit cartels + monopolies, and today still forms the basis for most antitrust litigation by the U.S. fed'l gov't

Hepburn Act - (1906) a U.S. fed'l law that gave the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) the power to set maximum railroad rates

Pure Food + Drug Act (1906) - provided federal inspection of meat products and forbade the manufacture, sale, or transportation of adulterated food products and poisonous patent medicines

Meat Inspection Act (1907) - requires the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture to inspect all cattle, sheep, goats, and horses when slaughtered and processed into products for human consumption

Open Door Policy - concept in foreign affairs, which usually refers to the policy around 1900 allowing multiple Imperial powers access to China, with none of them in control of that country

Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act (1909) - a bill lowering certain tariffs on goods entering the U.S.

Federal Reserve Act (1913) - created the Fed'l Reserve System the central banking system of the United States of America, and granted it the legal authority to issue legal tender. signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson

Keating-Owen Child Labor Act of 1916 - a statute enacted by the U.S. Congress, sought to address the perceived evils of child labor by prohibiting the sale in interstate commerce of goods manufactured by children in the U.S.

Espionage (1917) + Sedition Acts (1918) - prohibited any attempt to interfere with military operations, to support U.S. enemies during wartime, promote insubordination in the military, or to interfere with military recruitment; set of amendments to the Espionage Act–which prohibited many forms of speech

18th Amendment (1920) - prohibited the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages; repealed in 1932

19th Amendement (1920) - prohibits any United States citizen to be denied the right to vote based on sex

21st Amendement (1933) - repealed the Eighteenth Amendment that had created National Prohibition

Glass-Steagall Act + Banking Act of 1933 - est. FDIC

New Deal (1933-1936) - a set of economic policies implemented by President Franklin D. Roosevelt; responses to the Great Depression; created Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), Fed'l Housing Admin (FHA), Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA); largest programs still in existence: Social Security System + Securities + Exchange Commission (SEC)

Containment Policy (1940s-1960) - policy using military, economic, and diplomatic strategies to stop the spread of communism, enhance America’s security and influence abroad, and prevent a domino effect

Great Society (1960s) - a set of domestic programs proposed or enacted in the U.S. on the initiative of President Lyndon Johnson; Two main goals of the Great Society social reforms 1. elimination of poverty 2. racial injustice

Neutrality Acts (WWI + WWII) - Proclamation of Neutrality - formal announcement issued by U.S. Pres. eorge Washington (1793), declaring the nation neutral in the conflict between France + Great Britain; Neutrality Act of 1794 - made it illegal for an American to wage war against any country at peace with the U.S.;

New Frontier - term used by John F. Kennedy in his acceptance speech in the 1960 United States presidential election to the Democratic National Convention